If you are removing the transmission from a vehicle, it is much easier to drain the fluid while the transmission is still in the vehicle especially if your pan doesn't have a drain plug.

Please read through this tutorial in full prior to starting as you will have a better understanding of the processes involved.

Start with the transmission upright. You are going to want to remove all external linkage and cabling before you get started.

Here you can see the governor cover and speedometer cable attachment.

Simply remove the single bolt holding the cable attachment and carefully remove the gear from the case.

Remove the modulator by removing the bolt pictured and sliding out.

Be sure to remove the modulator valve after removing the modulator itself.

To remove the governor cover, pry the clamp off of the cover and then pry the cover off. These covers are simply pressed in so it shouldn't require much work to remove.

Once the cover is removed, the governor will be exposed. Pull to remove.

Remove the rear seal by placing a screwdriver between the seal and the tailshaft and pry out.

To remove the servo cover, slide a small pick in through the hole to the rear of the transmission to push the snap ring out of its hole.

Once the snap ring is out, grab the cover with plyers and pull. You can throw this o-ring away as a quality gasket kit has everything you need. Remove the spring and set aside.

Next, turn the transmission upside down and remove the bolts holding the pan in place.

If your pan has similar sludge in it, something is worn out.

Remove the 2 bolts holding the filter in place and remove.

Remove every 13mm bolt to remove valve body.

Remove the accumulator, and the remaining 13mm bolts to remove the plate and gasket.

This is how your transmission belly should look at this stage.

You will want to mark the locations of the balls prior to removing them to be sure that they go back into the same place durring assembly.

Remove the two thimble filters. Number 1.

Number 2.

To remove the pump, first remove the 8 bolts holding it to the casing.

To remove the pump there are two common methods. You can either use a soft mallet and tap the stator, NOT the input shaft, while prying between the clutch disks as shown to pop the pump out. Or, use a puller and attach it to the two threaded holes in the pump.

Once the pump has poped out you can simply slide it off the shaft.

You should be at this stage now.

To remove the clutches you may need to shake the input shaft while removing.

Inspect the clutches to make sure that they have lines and that there is no pealing. Also, check that the metal plates are not warped and that there are no burn marks.

Pull the drum and band out as an assembly.

You will likely need to shake the input shaft while prying the band up as the bands anchor sits in the groove in the case. Inspect the band for burs or if the clutch material is worn or missing. Also check to be sure that the anchor that we mentioned is actually there.

Separate the two drums.

Remove the planetary gear cover and washers.

Remove the snap rings holding the planetary gear in place.

Pull the planetary gear out and inspect for broken, chipped or pitted finish on the teeth. To check the play, rock the gear side to side, some play is normal but if you feel that it is excessive it could use replacement.

Pull the sun shell out by pulling on sun gear. Inspect the sun gear and sun shell. You will likely notice some dints developing within the notches of the sun shell. This is normal, however if it is any worse than ours it will likely need to be replaced. Higher detail pictures are included later.

Remove snap ring and hit the end of the output shaft with a soft mallet to jar loose the anti rattle clip. Pull the top pressure plate to remove the sprague and then remove the clutch disks.

Make sure to not loose the anti-rattle clip.

Inspect the clutches and disks as well as any of the teeth.

Inspect the inner race that the sprague rides on for wear or chatter marks.

Remove the extension housing by removing the bolts on each corner.

To remove the plastic speedo gear, hold the tab down and tap the gear back off the tab.

If done properly this is what you should have. Tap the collar to remove it from the end of the output shaft.

Pull output shaft from the front and inspect. Your transmission case should now look like this.

The removal of this spring and piston setup will require you to take it to a transmission shop and have them remove it as it requires a press.

Inspect the bearing and bushing where the shaft rides in the case.

This is how the assembly looks from inside the transmission. You should check the sun gear bushing by rocking the sun gear case back and forth, again there will always be some play.

Remove the snap ring from the drum.

Remove the clutches and inspect.

Look for burn spots on the metal clutch plates. These should be replaced.

To inspect the drum springs you require a hydraulic press so we will leave that out of this tutorial. Take these to your local transmission shop to have them disassembled.

As mentioned previously, if your sun gear case has any more damage to it than this it should be replaced.

Remove the snap ring on this drum.

Inspect clutches and plates.

The clearance was not set correctly when the previous owner rebuilt this transmission and caused the washer on the back of the pump to rub the sprague for so long that the snap ring has nowhere to hold on to any longer.

As our clutches and disks were in rather good shape this must have been the cause of the majority of the metal in our pan.

Remove the snap ring holding the cover on

Remove to expose the sprague.

Lift gear and sprague off and inspect

Disassembled components.

Now onto pump disassembly.

Remove sealing rings by sqeezing them. As you can see they have a notched groove in them.

To disassemble the pump, remove the 5 bolts holding the springs in.

The pump should separate after all of the bolts are removed.

Remove the cover and springs.

Remove the piston

The pump separated.

Mark the gears for easy re-installation

Inspect all surfaces of the gears for gauging and contamination.

Pay close attention to this groove as it rides on the converter hub. Also check the converter.

Inspect the bushing on the main pump assembly.

Remove the front seal.

The easiest way is to place a sizeable dint into the front...

and then tap it out from the inside.

Inspect bushings.

Inspect bushing to make sure it isn't broken or worn.

To keep with the typical garage rebuild theme you will notice that we didn't use any specialized tools and even used an electric impact as many do not have a compressor. Check back next week as we start the rebuild.